Budget, Extension of School Programs on Agenda as Congress Returns

Washington--Reconvening this week for the second half of the 100th
Congress, lawmakers have on their agenda such education matters as
initiatives to fund preschool education and child care, curb student
loan defaults, overhaul the welfare system, and create college-savings
programs, as well as legislation reauthorizing most precollegiate
education programs.

Congressional aides said last week they would also work to translate
into legislation proposals by the American Association of Colleges for
Teacher Education for aid programs to lure minority students into
teaching.

In addition, Senate aides said an effort may be launched to provide
federal funding for the national teacher-certification board created
last year by the Carnegie Foundation on Education and the Economy.

And, with the release of the Education Department's proposed
spending plan about two weeks away, lobbyists are gearing up for
another long budget battle.

The department will ask for more than $20 billion, the largest
increase the Reagan Administration has requested for education.

But while the emphasis Presidential candidates are giving education
and the national concern over economic competitiveness will keep it a
hot topic through 1988, observers4say, the federal deficit will most
likely prevent any large increases in education funding over the
approximately $20 billion the Congress recently approved for fiscal
1988.

The deficit-reduction pact between the Congress and the White
House--embodied in the 1988 budget--also calls for a total of $40
billion in cuts.

Education-committee staff members will meet this month, and
conferees may meet as soon as early February, to iron out differences
between House and Senate bills to reauthorize through 1993 the Chapter
1 program, Chapter 2 block grants, and a host of smaller programs.

"It will be relatively easy, just a matter of getting through a lot
of stuff," said John Jennings, education counsel for the House
Education and Labor Committee. "This is not a bill where there are
major philosophical disagreements."

Aides said points of contention may include:

Chapter 1. The two bills set different formulas for allocating
concentration grants for districts with large numbers of disadvantaged
students. And while both bills include provisions designed to force
improvements in unsuccessful Chapter 1 programs, the Senate legislation
is more specific and gives state agencies more authority to monitor
them.

The National Assessment of8Educational Progress. A Senate proposal
to expand naep and allow comparisons of educational achievement by
state has generated controversy, with some educators arguing that this
would promote "teaching to the test." Another Senate proposal, for an
optional national achievement test, has drawn similar criticism.

Bilingual education. Both HR 5 and S 373 would increase the
percentage of federal funds that could go to schools using methods
other than native-language instruction, but with differing
specifics.

New programs to increase parental involvement and choice. House
aides said no strong opposition to these Senate proposals has yet
emerged, but it is too early to predict whether House conferees will go
along.

Audit reform. Senate aides said their committees were still studying
language in HR 5 that would restrict the Education Department's
authority to recover allegedly misspent federal funds.

The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. While it was not included
in S 373, aides said senators will support language requiring districts
to report on the extent of drug use in their schools and measure
improvement. The language, passed recently as part of an unre4lated
bill, closely resembles Secretary of Education William J. Bennett's
proposal for infusing "accountability" into the program. HR 5 would
extend current law.

Early-Childhood Measures

Several early-childhood initiatives will also be on the
Congressional agenda.

The House Human Resources Subcommittee has scheduled a February
hearing on HR 3660, which would provide $2.5 billion to improve the
quality and availability of child care for low- and moderate-income
families.

The Senate Children, Family, Drugs, and Alcoholism Subcommittee also
plans hearings on a counterpart bill, S 1885, sponsored by its
chairman, Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut. Mr. Dodd
has also introduced another bill, S 1995, to establish a child-care
system within public schools.

The House is expected early in the session to take up HR 925, the
Family and Medical Leave Act, which was approved last year by the
Eduel10lcation and Labor Committee.

The bill, which would require employers to provide unpaid leave to
workers to care for newborn, newly adopted, or sick children, was
opposed by the National School Boards Association. A similar bill is
pending before Mr. Dodd's committee.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, announced last
week that he planned to introduce legislation to create a national
early-education program that would operate through the public schools
or Head Start centers. Such a program would provide both high-quality
preschool education for all children and child care for working
parents, Mr. Kennedy said.

Child care will also be a focus in the debate on welfare reform. The
House passed a $5-billion measure last year, and the Senate Finance
Committee plans to hold hearings this term on a more modest,
$2.3-billion plan sponsored by Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, Democrat of
New York.

Both HR 1720 and S 1511 urge states to establish comprehensive
job-training, education, and work programs designed to move low-income
families with children off the welfare rolls and onto payrolls; both
also include provisions for child care.

The Moynihan bill carries a leaner price tag because it does not
include the substantial benefit increases that are in the House
bill.

Other pending items include:

College savings plans. The Senate Labor and Human Resources
Committee plans to hold hearings on legislation, introduced last year
by Mr. Kennedy and Senator Claiborne Pell, Democrat of Rhode Island,
that would allow families to use U.S. savings bonds to accumulate
tax-free savings for education expenses.

A similar plan is expected to appear in the Education Department's
1989 budget, and Representative Pat Williams, Democrat of Montana,
chairman of the House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee, is also
drafting savings-bond legislation.

Student-loan defaults. Mr. Pell, chairman of the Education, Arts,
and Humanities Subcommittee, will soon introduce legislation based on
ideas aired during recent hearings on the default problem, aides said,
and will also continue pushing inclusion of a provision in a pending
trade bill that would allow loan- guarantee agencies to halt dealings
with institutions whose default rates are high.

Mr. Williams is also drafting legislation based on agreements
reached during a recent conference he arranged in which education
experts aired their views on the issue. Aides believe there will be
some action on both defaults and college savings.

Voluntary national service. Mr. Pell will hold hearings later this
year on proposals for youth-service programs, including his own, S 762,
which would provide college-tuition aid to students who volunteer for
community or military work. The House Employment Opportunities
Subcommittee held hearings last year on several proposals.

National Science Foundation reauthorization. The Senate could at any
time take up S 1632, sending it to conference with the House companion,
HR 2330, which passed last year. Both bills would increase
authorizations for the n.s.f.'s education programs, but the House bill
would provide more money for precollegiate efforts.

Civil-rights restoration act. Legislation to restore civil-rights
coverage narrowed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Grove City v.
Bell was approved last year by the Senate Labor and Human Resources
Committee, but no action is yet scheduled in the full Senate, where the
bill faces uncertain prospects.

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